USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County Indiana : From its earliest settlement to the present time with biographical sketches and reference to biographies previously compiled, Volume II > Part 64
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In 1880 Mr. Vaughn was married to Miss Lilla W. Rice, the daughter of W. H. Rice, of Indianapolis, the editor and proprietor of the Ma- sonic Advocate. To their marriage three children have been born: Vol. II-31
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Lillian Ethel, now Mrs. W. H. Mordhurst, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Sidney R. and Regina. Mrs. Vaughn died July 14, 1911. Excellent educational advantages have been afforded the children of Mr. Vaughn, for while he lacked similar privileges in his own youth, he has never been one to gainsay the benefits that accrue from such advantages, and he determined that his children should not be handicapped as he was in that respect. All three of his children have completed the curriculum of the Logansport schools, and Lillian is a graduate of the Chicago Uni- versity, while Sidney has his degree from Purdue University. .
MRS. SARAH ELLEN TYSON. It has already been said that many a man who entered upon an unsettled, undeveloped section lived to be that section's most prominent man and largest capitalist, and this as- sertion found confirmation in the life of John Hoover, who was the father of Mrs. Sarah Ellen Tyson, who is one of Cass county's best known and most esteemed residents. Ohio was the original home of the Hoovers and eighty-five years ago John Hoover and his father, Jacob Hoover, left Wayne county for what was then the border of civil- ization, the wilds of Indiana. Owing to their method of transportation their progress was slow, but after a journey of twenty-one days they reached their destination, Adams township, Cass county. They had money with which to invest in land and the grandfather of Mrs. Tyson, Jacob Hoover, secured six hundred acres, the purchase price being but a fraction of a dollar per acre. Concerning him, it should be said that he was born in Germany, and that early in life he settled in Preble county, Ohio. His son, John Hoover, was born in Preble county, Ohio, on November 8, 1808, and in his twentieth year he married Rachel Mandlin, who was born December 16, 1811, and was a native of North Carolina, but who was residing with her parents in Wayne county at the time of her marriage March, 1829. Mr. Hoover moved to Adams township, Cass county with his young wife, and there he purchased 300 acres of land, upon which he settled and lived for thirty-eight years. His father, Jacob Hoover, had already become the owner of a large estate in the county, and these men were pioneers in the truest sense of the word. Where they led, others soon followed, and as the value of this land became noised about, travel in the county so increased that a railroad was projected. John Hoover owned so large a body of land that negotiations had to be opened up with him and a part of his property became railroad land about 1870, the new station that quickly developed being named Hoover in his honor. It may well be believed that Mr. Hoover took a deep interest in the new town, and, eagerly watched the laying of the rails and the other construction work preparatory to the passing over of the first train of cars, which seemed to him the last advance of civilization. No doubt his life was somewhat prolonged by the hope of witnessing the arrival of the train that would assure the prosperous future of his namesake town, but his ardent wish was not gratified, his death occurring November 28, 1872, only a few days before the road was in running order.
John Hoover, became an extensive farmer, cleared his land and made it productive, and lived to see many changes take place. He related
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frequently to his children how small a village Logansport was when he first came to this section and the fact that he dug the first cellar in that place. He was the father of the following children: Martha Ann, who married Sebastian Moore, and both are deceased, 1866; Mary Jane, who married Augustus Moore, a brother of Sebastian; Noah B., who married Frances Obenchain, both deceased; Sarah Ellen; who mar- ried Thornton Tyson; John M., who married Parthena Wilson and after her death married Nancy Boyar, nee Williams; Leah B., who became the wife of E. B. Forgy; Hannah Maria, who married William Dennison ; Riley C., who married Irene Wilson, both deceased; George who died in infancy ; and Emma Frances, who married William Fernald.
Thornton Tyson was a son of Thorton F. and Mary Ann (Teeter) Tyson, both of Virginia. He served as a soldier in the Union army during the Civil war, after which he lived on the farm that Mrs. Tyson now lives on, known as the Tyson homestead and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits until the time of his death, December 22, 1905. Mrs. Tyson, as stated, is still living on the well cultivated tract of two hundred acres of land, not far distant from Hoover, in Adams town- ship, the town named for her honored father. Mrs. Tyson is a consistent member of the Christian church, which she has liberally supported for many years, and she is widely known for her religious and charitable work. She and her husband became the parents of the following chil- dren : Morton V., born in 1865, who married Rebecca Moss, and has one son, Orvil and lives in North Dakota; Cora Jane, born in 1869, who became the wife of Simon Fisher and has four children, Florence, Fernald, Simon, and Earl, and lives in Rock Rapids, Iowa; Ora E., born 1867, married James H. Fisher, and has one daughter, Ina C. and lives in Peru, Indiana ; John R., born 1872, is deceased; N. Franklin, born 1874, now living at home, and married to Clara Hammon of Adams township, and the father of Martha Ellen, deceased, Cecil, Byron, Harold, Clifford, Rachel and James.
GEORGE AND WILLIAM CLYMER, pioneers of Clinton township, were natives of Ohio, but came to this township when the Indian and wild beast held possession of the forests which then covered its present fer- tile fields. This was in the years 1834-5. They were both active in the development of the township, and took a leading part in all its enter- prises. George Clymer built one of the first water power mills on Keeps creek, and later a steam sawmill at Clymers, and that town receives its name from him. This mill was later operated by his brother, William, and his son, David H. Clymer. The latter also became one of the leading spirits in Clinton township and was township trustee. George Clymer bought the Biddle Island in Logansport and lived there for a time and in the latter 'sixties moved to Minnesota, where he died some years thereafter. William Clymer was married to Martha McKaig. She died at Clymers in 1873, and he died at the same place in 1881. One daughter, Ruth, became the wife of Robert R. Reed, Sr., but is now dead. Another daughter, Mary, married George Shideler, the first white child born in Clinton township. Her husband is dead but she is now living in Logansport, over eighty years of age. The son, David H. Clymer, born in Ohio, 1828, married Margaret Conner, of Clinton town-
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ship, 1850, and raised quite a family of children. He died in Logans- port in 1901, and is buried in St. John's churchyard near the place of his activities and the home he loved so well.
JOHN R. CHILCOTT, a pioneer of Jefferson township, was born in Penn- sylvania, 1788, came to Cass county in 1840, and settled on the northwest quarter of section 13, Jefferson township, where he continued to reside until his death in 1875, and sleeps his last sleep in the Fry cemetery. He was a soldier in a Pennsylvania regiment in the War of 1812 and for many years a justice of the peace and a prominent farmer of Jefferson township. He was united in marriage to Margaret Miller in Erie county, New York. She bore him six children : Mrs. Caroline Watts, now living on the home farm; John, who died in 1900; Benjamin died in 1908; Henry, now living in Harrison township; Columbus, dying in 1844, and Amos Chilcott. The four sons served their country honorably as Union soldiers during the Civil war.
AMOS CHILCOTT, now eighty-two years old, has a wonderful vivid memory and the writer is indebted to him for many historical facts con- tained herein. Mary Jane Banta, daughter of Beaufort Banta, became his wife in 1854, and they have seven children, 33 grandchildren living, 12 dead and 20 great grandchildren.
RICHARD PRYOR was born in Philadelphia in 1810; came to Logansport in 1835 and engaged in the manufacture of hats; appointed collector of revenue by the county commissioner in 1838; in 1840 was the nominee of the Whig party for county treasurer and soon after erected the first two-story stone building in Logansport. This was a landmark for many years and stood on the south side of the street at what is now known as No. 417 Market street. Here he engaged in the hardware business. He resided in Jefferson township, however, in section 14, on a farm now owned by his son Horace. Mr. Pryor was an earnest Presbyterian and was largely instrumental in organizing the congregation and erecting Pisgah church, in which he was an elder. He was thrice married and had several children. One son, Horace Pryor, now a respected citizen of Jefferson township, and D. E. Pryor, a brave soldier of the Seventy-third Indiana Regiment and for many years a prominent druggist at 516 Broadway, who died in 1900. Mrs. James W. Shim and Mrs. S. B. Pratt were daughters. Mr. Pryor died in Logansport in 1889, having been an active and influential member of society for over half a century.
JOHN COTNER, second son of Eli and Nackey (Mullennix) Cotner, was born in Ohio in 1818. He was one of a family of thirteen children. His grandparents, Daniel and Mary (Coble) Cotner, of German descent and natives of North Carolina, came to Ohio in 1815. Eli Cotner, the father of our subject, came with his family to Cass county in 1831, where John aided his father to clear his farm in Noble township.
John Cotner was united in marriage to Eliza Walters, November 3, 1841, who was born in Michigan in 1822. To this union was born ten children, to-wit: Elmira, William, Eli, Easton, Sarah, Anna, Levi, Albert, James and an infant. The nine former grew to adult life.
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Mr. Cotner settled in the northeast quarter of section 18, moving into a hewed.log house on Christinas Day, 1841. The house was after- wards covered with siding and otherwise modernized. This house they occupied until their death, he dying in 1868 and the widow in 1908, sixty-seven years after she moved into it as a bride.
Mr. Cotner was an industrious, hardworking farmer, and an admirer of fine horses, which he always drove. When this couple first moved into this cabin it was surrounded by dense forests. Wild turkeys roosted in the boughs of the nearby trees and in the early mornings herds of deer could be seen browsing near their cabin door, and many a deer Mr. Cotner has shot from a crack between the logs of his forest home.
RICHARD FERGUSON. A pioneer of Adams township was born in West Virginia, of Scotch-Irish parentage. His education was limited to a few terms in the log schoolhouse of his native state where he was united in marriage to Phebe Payne and soon after embarked on a small flat boat, came down the Ohio river and up the Wabash to Logansport where, after many trials and hardships he landed in the summer of 1833 and erected a cabin near where St. Joseph's hospital now stands. About 1836 or 1837 he moved to Adams township, locating on the northwest quarter of section 32, where he purchased and improved one of the best farms in the township and for fifty years was regarded as the most respected and influential farmer of the township. A short time before his death he moved to Miami township, south of New Waverly, where he died in 1884, after a long and useful life.
The following children were born to Richard Ferguson and wife: Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth Ann, Richard W., James P. and Sebastian C. Ferguson and four children who died in infancy. Of this number all are now dead except Sebastian C., who was born July 22, 1841, in Adams township, attended the log schoolhouse without windows and was raised a farmer's boy. At the breaking out of the war in 1861 he enlisted in Com- pany G, Fifty-first Indiana, and served nearly four years. After the war he engaged in farming in Miami township until 1868 when he moved to Logansport and engaged in contract carpenter work and in 1906 retired and moved to Chicago. He was married in 1865 to Eliza Dillman of Adams township, a daughter of Daniel Dillman, and they have two sons and one daughter, all living.
Richard Ferguson had a brother, John Ferguson, who was a pioneer settler in the northern part of Bethlehem township, where he resided, an honored citizen for many years, but about 1874 moved to Wisconsin, where he died.
John D. Ferguson is a son of John Ferguson and was born in Bethle- hem township about 1846; reared on the farm, educated in the district school and in the sixties moved to Logansport, engaged in the bakery business, later in the clothing business, then real estate, and thus arose from an obscure country boy to be one of the leading business men and capitalists of our city.
THOMAS SKINNER, SR., a pioneer of Adams township and a most exemplary citizen, was born in North Carolina in 1795. Parmelia Cox, his wife, was born in Tennessee, in 1800. They came to Cass county
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in 1837, locating in Adams township, where he became one of the most influential citizens of the county and was a leader in all things that had a tendency to a better and a higher life. He was not an office seeker and only filled minor township offices, but he held the highest official position in his church, the Twelve Mile Christian, which he was instrumental in establishing. He died in 1883, respected and mourned by all and lies at rest near the church he loved so well, his wife having preceded him seven- teen years. They were blessed with five sons: John C., Daniel, Ira, Rich- ard and Thomas H. Skinner. Ira served his country in the Twentieth Indiana Infantry, during the Civil war; John C., Richard and Daniel died in Cass county years ago leaving families and Thomas H. is at this writing, one of the oldest and most influential men in Adams township, and his large and respected family as well as all his neighbors can only speak words of praise for his beneficent acts.
HENRY LOGAN THOMAS was one of the earliest settlers of Adams town- ship, locating on section 29 in the year 1831 or 1832. He was a sturdy character and one of the most influential and best known citizens of the township. He was a quiet, unostentatious man, a worker rather than an expounder of good deeds. He was a devout Christian and the first relig- ious meeting in Adams township was held at his cabin, soon after it was erected in the midst of the forest. He was reliable, faithful and upright in all his dealings and his influence for all that is true and noble has left a lasting impression on the community where he spent the active years of his life. Mr. Thomas, son of George and Nancy (Logan) Thomas, who were natives of Ireland, was born in Virginia, 1805, moved with his parents to Ohio, where he married Nancy Williams and soon after moved to Cass county, where he raised an old time family of eleven children of whom Elizabeth, Esther, William, Nathaniel and Bruce are now living in Kansas and Edgar resides near the old home in Adams township. Henry Logan Thomas died on his original homestead in Adams township, Feb- rnary 14, 1873, beloved and respected by all.
BERRY FAMILY. While the early history of the Berry family is in- volved in some obscurity yet it is known to be of German origin and that its progenitor came from Heidelberg, Bavaria, about 1765 and settled in eastern Pennsylvania. This was Peter Berry, a man of influence in the community. He served as lieutenant in the Revolutionary war under Washington's immediate command and was promoted to the rank of cap- tain. He died in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, prior to 1796, leaving a wife, Margaret, six sons and four daughters, one son dying in youth. These children were all married and left progeny, some in Pennsylvania, others in the west. Among the latter was Peter Berry, the second son, who was born in 1787, married Elizabeth Lutz, daughter of a German physi- cian, who was also a Revolutionary soldier. Peter Berry moved to Cincin- nati about 1815 and opened a shop for the manufacture of edged tools. He made the boiler for the first steamboat that plied the waters of the Ohio river. He moved to Butler county, Ohio, for a time and came to Logans- port in 1829, where he resided one year, then located on a farm in Miami township between Waverly and Hooverville, where he spent the remain- der of his life, departing this life in 1872 or 1873.
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The following are the names of the children of Peter and Elizabeth Berry : Henry, Catharine, who married David Miller, an early settler of Miami township; Peter C., Samuel, Elizabeth and John H.
John H. Berry, the second son of Peter and Elizabeth (Lutz) Berry, was born in Pennsylvania in 1812 and moved with his parents to Cass county in 1829 and spent the rest of his life on a farm in Miami town- ship, where he died in 1872. In 1838 he was united in marriage to Har- riet Reed, daughter of Abraham and Nancy (Cox) Reed, who were pioneers in Miami township. Mrs. Berry died in 1872 and some years thereafter Mr. Berry contracted a marriage with Mrs. Ellen Conner (nee Sackett) who survived him and is now (1913) living in Richmond, In -· diana. He died in Miami township in 1879. John H. and Harriet Berry were the parents of thirteen children, namely : Israel J., Peter A., Edwin R., James K. P., Maria, Graham N., Wilson R., Eliza D., Elizabeth, John M., Harvey H., Harriet and Martha, six of whom are now living (1913).
Israel J., teacher, farmer and horticulturist, was born in Miami town- ship in 1839. He taught school for a third of a century and is now retired and lives at Adamsboro, this county. He married Miss Emmeline Spen- cer, 1866, daughter of John and Mary (Keeran) Spencer, a native of Ohio, born there in 1841. To this union were born four children, viz: John, now residing near Marion, Indiana; Clementine, now Mrs. Howard Helm; Katharine, now Mrs. Charles E. Douglas, both living in Clay township, and Bertha, died in infancy. Mr. Berry is a devout Baptist and a Democrat in politics, although liberal in his views.
Peter A. Berry, teacher, lawyer and fruit grower, was born in 1842 and died in 1895. He was educated in Logansport's high school and Wabash College, studied law with the late Judge D. H. Chase, and at- tended the law department of Michigan University. He practiced for a time, but the profession not being to his taste, he relinquished it and returned to teaching and educational .work. He served three terms as superintendent of the county schools.
For some years prior to his demise he retired to his farm in Miami township and engaged chiefly in horticulture. Mr. Berry was married in 1868 to Miss Nancy Jane Crockett; she, dying in 1889, left four chil- dren, all of whom are dead except Emma, who is the wife of Lewis C. Brown.
Edwin R. Berry, born 1844; died 1865.
James K. P. Berry, farmer and teacher, born 1846; married Miss Sarah Spencer, by whom he had four children. He died in 1882 and his widow is now Mrs. Nelson Scott, of Clay township.
Graham Newell Berry, teacher and writer of local history and biog- raphy, was born in 1848; taught twenty-four years in the public schools, sixteen years of which was principal of the different schools of Logans- port. He has assisted in writing the history of scores of county and state histories and is a contributor to a number of magazines. He was mar- ried June 20, 1876, to Miss Elvira, daughter of John S. and Prudence (Harris) Winters, who was born at Wabash, Indiana, January 7, 1854. They have had six children, none of whom is living.
Wilson Reed Berry, artist and draftsman, born 1851. Has illus- trated numerous books, magazines, etc., besides achieving more than a local reputation as a painter in oil and water colors. He was married
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January 31, 1878, to Miss Emma Conner, daughter of Calvin and Ellen (Sackett) Conner, the union resulting in the following children : Murillo, Percival (deceased), Virgil, Robin A. and Inez Lillian.
Mr. Berry is now the owner and occupant of the old Biddle home on the island in Logansport and since the recent flood thinks we have a wet town.
Eliza D. Berry, born 1853; died 1895 ; unmarried.
Elizabeth Berry, born 1856; married Wm. Obenchain and has had seven children, only four of whom are living. They reside in Logansport.
John Meek Berry, herdsman, was born 1858, is married and lives on a sheep ranch in Kansas.
Harvey Heath Berry, born 1861; died in 1873.
Harriet Berry, born 1863; died in 1880.
Martha J. Berry, born 1868; married Joseph Stewart and is the mother of five children. They now reside in Marion, Indiana.
COL. WM. L. BROWN, a veteran of two wars, was born in Ohio, November 19, 1817, and was killed at the battle of Bull Run, Virginia, in 1862. He came to Logansport in the early forties; was a brave soldier in the Mexican war; united in marriage to Elizabeth Purveyance in Logansport, June 27, 1849, from which union six children were born: Eleanor H., Frederick L., Daisy, James A., Charles H. and William I., the latter still an honored resident of our city. On the breaking out of the Civil war he raised a regiment, the Twentieth Indiana, and became its colonel, which he gallantly commanded and fell while bravely battling for his country. Colonel Brown was an energetic man and a leader in civil and business affairs of Logansport and was interested in banking and other business interests. He bought and improved the old Fitch farm at Kenneth, west of town, where he lived for some time.
He had three brothers, all Presbyterian ministers who occupied the pulpit of the First Presbyterian church of Logansport at different times during their ministerial labors. They were the Revs. James C. Brown, Frederick T. and Hugh A. Brown.
Colonel Brown's widow was postmaster at Logansport from 1866 to 1870.
NOAH S. LA ROSE, son of Philip J. and Anna Maria (Sherer ) La Rose, who were natives of North Carolina, was born in Ohio in 1817; came with his parents to Cass county in 1834, where his father lived until his death in 1871. Our subject had two brothers, John S. and Joshua S., and one sister, all of whom were honored residents of Cass county but are now dead. Mr. La Rose was educated in the public schools of the county and at Hanover College, from which he graduated in 1862. From 1834 to 1850 Mr. La Rose made his home with his father on the farm. In the latter year he came to Logansport, where he resided until his death in 1886. He is interred in the Bethel cemetery in Clay town- ship. He served as county clerk from 1856 to 1864, and again from 1872 to 1876. In 1868 he was the candidate of his party (Democratic) for clerk of the supreme court but was defeated with the entire ticket.
Noah La Rose was a tall, slender man with a kind and gentle face, sociable in his manners, and made friends of everyone with whom he
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came in contact. He was never married and was not a member of any order, hence his energies were largely expended in the aid of others. He affiliated with the Evangelical Reformed church, was charitably inclined, and materially assisted all enterprises for the betterment of the race. He was a public-spirited man and laid out several additions to the city of Logansport, and he was a familiar and well-known figure on the streets of Logansport for over a third of a century.
ROBERT R. REED, SR., son of Robert and Mary (Megwood) Reed, was born in Fayette county, Indiana, November 7, 1824. His parents were born and married in Ireland and came to America with their four children, namely : James, William, Jane and Mary Ann, in 1817 and settled in Fayette county, Indiana. His father was a weaever by trade and died in Fayette county August 7, 1824, and his son James died there in 1825. The widowed mother moved to Clinton township, Cass county, with her children, William, Thomas, Mary Ann and the subject of this sketch, October 13, 1834, and occupied a log cabin in the midst of the primeval forest which they helped to clear and develop the country where they all lived and died except Robert R. He was educated in the old log schoolhouse on the Hewitt L. Thomas farm; later he taught school and in 1850 moved to Logansport and engaged in the grain business with Pollard & Wilson. Was appointed county treasurer November 30, 1879, in place of W. T. S. Manly, deceased; ran for treasurer on Republican ticket but was beaten by Thos. Pierce. Was united in marriage to Miss Ruth Clymer, daughter of David Clymer, of Clinton township on June 19, 1853. Mrs. Reed died in 1893, leaving our aged yet honored subject alone in the world. Mr. Reed served several terms in the city council in the seventies and for a man of his age, being now past eighty-eight, has a remarkably vivid memory and the writer is indebted to him for much historical data found herein.
HON. JOHN W. WRIGHT, son of Rev. John Wright, is a native of Lan- caster, Ohio, where he was born October, 1811. He graduated from the Ohio University in 1832; read law for one year and in 1833 located in Logansport and began the practice of law. In 1835 his brother, William- son Wright, came west and entered into a partnership with him. He was prosecuting attorney and in 1840 was elected president judge of the eighth judicial circuit and served for six years, when he retired to his farm, four miles north of Logansport on the Michigan road and was the chief actor in building the old plank road from Logansport to Fulton about 1853. He was instrumental in building the Wabash Railroad through Logansport and presided over the first meeting held in the court- house, composed of men from Ft. Wayne, Lafayette and New York, for the purpose of organization of the company. About the same time his brother, Williamson Wright, was active in promoting the construction of the Pan Handle Railroad into Logansport and John W. Wright took the contract for the building of that road between Newcastle and Logans- port and the first locomotive engine ever seen in Logansport was brought by him on the old canal, and hauled across the Wabash bridge onto the railroad. During the run of the free banking system in the fifties he operated a bank in Logansport and one at Rochester, but the death of Vol. II-32
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that system shut them up. In 1852 he was elected mayor of the city. In 1858 lie was elected to congress but refused to take his seat, because of his interest in making Kansas a free state, whither he moved and was a member of the constitutional convention of that state and later a member of the legislature and became the speaker of the house. About 1861-62 he returned to Logansport and built a residence on the east side of the First Presbyterian church, now occupied as a parsonage. In the sixties he was appointed to an Indian agency in the West and later took up his residence in Washington, where he died, 1889, and on October 12 of that year, the bar of Logansport, at a meeting presided over by Judge D. B. McConnell, passed most complimentary resolutions on the distin- guished services of Judge Wright and especially his work in the cause of freedom and opposition to slavery and the organization of the Free Soil party in Cass county.
COL. JORDAN VIGUS was a native of Virginia, where he was born September 17, 1792. In 1810 he went to Lexington, Kentucky, and clerked in his brother's store. He served with distinction in the First Kentucky Regiment during the War of 1812. In 1828 he located in Logansport and aided in the laying out and naming the town with Gen- eral Tipton, Chauncey Carter, John B. Durett and Gillis McBean. Was appointed by Governor Ray a commissioner of the Wabash and Erie canal in 1832-33 and went to Ft. Wayne on February 22, 1832, to commemorate the commencement of construction of the canal and after delivering a brief address commenced the work by digging the first spadefull of earth amid great rejoicing. Logansport was incorporated as a city by act of legislature, February 17, 1838, and the following May Colonel Vigus was elected its first mayor. He afterwards served two terms as postmaster, 1840, and, again, 1848. He was of medium height, stout build, with dark hair and dark eyes. He died September 20, 1860, leaving a wife and several children. His remains are interred in the old cemetery on Ninth street.
DR. JEHU Z. POWELL, son of Jacob and Martha A. (Troutman) Pow- ell, was born in Bethlehem township, Cass county, Indiana, August 13, 1848. He was educated in the Logansport high school and Presbyterian Academy and graduated from the literary department of the University of Michigan in 1871 and from the medical department in 1874. In the same spring he took a post-graduate course at the Long Island Hospital Medical College, New York, and at once opened an office in Logansport, where he has been in active practice ever since. In 1892 and again in 1902 he took a practitioner's course in the Post-Graduate Medical School of Chicago.
The doctor has never sought office, being content to follow his chosen profession, but believes every citizen owes a duty to the public and was induced to serve as member of the city council for four years and was a presidential elector in 1896 and postmaster at Logansport from 1898 to 1902.
In politics the doctor has always espoused the cause of the Republi- can party and has acted as the chairman of the Cass County Republican committee, 1892 to 1896.
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He has always been an earnest temperance advocate and has filled various offices in the local and grand lodge of the Independent Order, of Good Templars, the only order to which he ever belonged, but is active in promoting temperance and moral reform.
The doctor is a close student and spends his leisure time in reading solid literature and writing along various temperance, moral and his- torical lines. He has been thrice married: First marriage to Mary J. Leffel, September 22, 1874, daughter of Arthur Leffel of Bethlehem township, by whom he had one son, Dwight C. Powell, born in Logans- port, March 28, 1876; was educated in the city high school and the University of Michigan and graduated from Bellevue Medical College in 1899; appointed surgeon in the United States army and served two years in the Philippine Islands; resigned from the service and not lik- ing private practice, relinquished his profession and engaged in mer- cantile pursuits and is now located in Los Angeles, California. He was married June 25, 1908, to Miss Mildred Addlesberger, of Springfield, Illinois, and they have one daughter, Mary Louise, born September 9, 1909.
Mrs. Powell died May 17, 1877, and on May 1, 1881, he was again united in marriage to Mrs. Louisa F. Ewing nee Harris, whose first husband died while serving as postmaster of this city and she succeeded him as postmistress in 1874. She died in 1899, death resulting from a fall through a cellar door. He was again married to Miss Christine A. Markert of Logansport, May 1, 1901, and they are blessed with one son, Weldon, born January 4, 1903.
He is liberal in his religious views but was raised a Quaker and believes in plain, practical religion. He is a member of the Cass County Medical Society and was its secretary for nearly twenty-five years, also member of the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Med- ical Association.
In 1903 he was a delegate to the International Medical Congress at Madrid, Spain, and visited the hospitals in all the European capitals in preparation for his duties as chief surgeon in charge of the hospital at the National Military Home at Johnson City, Tennessee, which posi- tion he filled. But tiring of the confinement and military discipline, he resigned after four months service in that capacity. He then returned to Logansport to his old home, which he had never relinquished, nor lost his citizenship in the county that gave him birth, where he is still actively engaged in the practice of his chosen profession.
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HECKMAN BINDERY INC.
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N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
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